


the song i sing again and again

by littleleotas



Series: Neira Ryder [2]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Cunnilingus, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Oral Sex, Plot What Plot/Porn Without Plot, Porn with Feelings, Vaginal Fingering, Vaginal Sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 23:26:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14579940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleleotas/pseuds/littleleotas
Summary: Neira Ryder continues to struggle with the magnitude of Jaal's affection.





	the song i sing again and again

Being outside with sunshine on her skin was a luxury Neira had almost forgotten. On Eos and Elaaden she boiled like a lobster in its shell, but Voeld’s biting freeze was no relief. Even in full armour, her skin crawled after Havarl and Kadara until she showered—often twice. But Aya was, without exaggeration, a paradise; its air lacked the heaviness of Earth’s, the barrier of pollution and humidity between her and the light. Aya was warm, not unpleasantly hot. Every other place they had been in Heleus was one extreme or the other; it was so unexpected to find a planet that was delightfully moderate that she almost wondered if she had dreamed it.

Even as much as she enjoyed it, she still never quite felt right after an extended period outdoors until she got home, showered, and curled up under crisp, clean sheets in her own bed. She smiled to herself as she shimmied her way underneath the sheets, exhaling deeply in satisfaction. She rolled onto her back, opening her eyes and looking up at the sheet over her face. Her cabin lights were out, but the large window allowed enough light to illuminate the room softly, casting a blue light throughout the room visible through the sheet.

She heard movement and felt the bed depress as Jaal climbed in next to her, pulling the sheet over his head to join her. She turned to face him, smiling fondly. “Hey,” she said, her voice gravelly.

“Hello,” he replied, shifting and settling himself sideways, leaning on his shoulder. “Are we…hiding?”

“No,” she said with amusement. “It’s just…nice.”

“Mm,” he hummed in assent. “It is…nice.”

She turned on her side, resting her cheek on the back of her hand. “Thank you for today, Jaal.”

He stroked her cheek fondly, almost reverently, his fingers skimming down her jawbone, over her shoulder, lingering on her hip. “It was my pleasure, darling one.”

She closed her eyes, savouring his touch. His hands thrummed gently with latent electricity, making her skin tingle. She shivered, opening her eyes again and meeting his. Her stomach lurched; his gaze held so much emotion, his thoughts naked on his face as he looked at her in awe. It was piercing in a mildly unsettling way, to be looked at with such love.

“A-Aya,” she said, stumbling over her words as she tried to bite down the tremor rising in her throat, “is so beautiful.”

The hand at her waist gripped her as he moved closer. “You are beautiful,” he murmured. He kissed her deeply, and she felt lightheaded as her eyes rolled back behind her eyelids.

She broke the kiss with a nervous chuckle. “You’re too much, Jaal.”

He frowned. “I’m sorry, what can I-“

“No, you didn’t do anything wrong,” she said, attempting reassurance. “It’s—I’m not used to—” She sighed, annoyed with herself for ruining another beautiful moment. This was how she drove them all away, she thought, always reacting wrong, saying something stupid and off-putting. She caught his eyes, full of worry, waiting for an explanation, and her stomach tied itself in nervous knots. “I don’t know how to…I don’t know how to be loved, I guess. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Neira.” The way he said her name broke her heart, like a bandage pressed desperately to a weeping wound. He pressed a hand to the side of her face. “We are not playing roles, are we? There is no script, nothing you are… _supposed_ to do. All I want from you is honesty.”

The sincerity in his piercing blue gaze, as clear as tropical seas through which she could see every grain of sand at the bottom, made her only question irrelevant, but she wasn’t sure what else to say. “And you’re being honest with me?”

He clasped her hand to his chest. “You are my heart. One cannot lie to one’s heart.”

A hot tear rolled down her cheek, catching her by surprise. She kissed him, pressing her body flush against his. He moaned, snaking an arm around her. Her lips barely left his as she whispered, “I love you.”

His response was not in words. With his hand splayed on her back, he rolled over gently, not allowing his full weight to rest on her. Her hands tangled in the sheet as she wrapped them around Jaal’s neck, pulling him to her as he pressed his lips to her neck, each kiss like a fervent prayer. She sighed, arching her back and pulling her leg up over his hip, hooking over the small of his back, each point of contact between them crackling with Jaal’s electricity.

“Jaal,” she whined softly.

He pulled back, and the loss of his weight and heat made her frown. He chuckled as he shifted himself further down the bed, between her legs. “Darling one, are you upset with me?” he said coyly, kissing his way down her stomach.

“Not really,” she whispered. His trail of kisses stopped as he took her thighs in his hands, his fingers tingling with electricity as they roamed. His touch felt not like a jolt, but like a pleasant wave, warm and stimulating and comfortable. She cried out in pleasant surprise as his tongue made contact, swirling agonizingly slow over her clit.

His movements remained slow, and Neira’s moans gave way to shallow, desperate whines as tightness built in her core. Her hips moved in a languid ellipse, pressing herself against his tongue and panting as he took the invitation to increase his pressure and speed.

“Oh,” her voice wavered and her hand gripped his shoulder hard without consciously meaning to do so. He moaned into her as he moved with renewed zeal. His tongue slid over her clit in one more relishing lick before flicking quickly, pulling panting cries from her in a crescendo until she came, screaming his name.

Tension seeped out of her as she settled, catching her breath as her blood pounded in her ears. She pushed the sheet off, uncovering Jaal’s face as he moved up next to her. “Too hot,” she whispered, still panting.

“Mm,” he agreed. He lay on his side, propping his head up with one arm. She turned her head to face him, and the look in his heavy-lidded eyes was quietly loving, less an awestruck admiration and more a gentle and cherishing fondness. If she hadn’t already been naked, that look would’ve made her feel so.

She fought back her dizziness and kissed him, unsure if the tingling in her lips was his electricity or something else. She pushed herself closer to him, drawing her leg up the outside of his. A deep noise reverberated in his throat and his cock emerged, pressing against her stomach. Still kissing him, she rolled onto her back, pulling him with her.

“Stars,” he whispered. “I-Are you-“ His words caught in his throat and he swallowed, looking at her with an inquisitive plea in his eyes. She moved her hand between them, but when Jaal saw where she was heading, he took her wrist. “No, let me.”

She stretched slightly, laying her hands back as if raised in surrender. A quiet “Oh,” escaped her lips as he touched her, gently rubbing her clit. She pushed her head back, lacing the fingers of one hand with his above her head. Her back arched as her breath grew shallow, and she looked into Jaal’s eyes as she groaned and gasped. He shifted his attention down, carefully pushing a finger inside her and glancing back up at her face to see her reaction. _’He does like to tinker,’_ she thought with amusement. His finger curled inside her and her grip on his other hand tightened. He pulled it nearly all the way out before adding another finger and pushing in again, and her tenuous grasp on control disappeared, her hips bucking into his hand.

He sighed and pressed his face to her neck as he continued thrusting his fingers in and out. “I love the way your body responds to mine,” he murmured. She responded with a wordless whine-yelp. He kissed her neck between words. “I love to see you like this, to make you like this.”

“Fuck, Jaal,” she managed to gasp out.

He chuckled, his breath hot against her neck. “Is that a request?”

She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “Don’t let it become an order.”

He moved swiftly, removing his fingers and shifting himself over her. She was surprised at the gracefulness of the endeavour, though thinking to his movement on the battlefield, she supposed she should be less shocked. She didn’t have much time to ruminate on this thought, however, as he plunged into her with ease as he buried his face in her neck and all rational thought left her mind.

She wrapped an arm around his back, clinging to him as he thrust into her. He raised his head, looking her in the eyes. She placed her other hand on the back of his head and reached up to kiss him, moaning into his mouth as he pushed her down.

“Neira,” he whispered, his voice unsteady.

“Jaal, don’t stop,” the words rushed from her mouth as she pulled him in, her hips meeting his thrusts. His low moans sounded like a song with her high-pitched cries, their movements in rhythmic unison creating the drum beat beneath their voices. Electricity surged through her as he came, and she followed him, the tingling sensation spreading over her whole body.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him to her as they caught their breath. They lay there until Jaal’s weight on her became uncomfortable, and she shifted underneath him. He took the hint, moving to lie beside her. She turned her back to his chest, though unable to press herself flat against him for his chest protrusions, and he encircled her with an arm, splaying a hand on her stomach and kissing her shoulder.

She hummed wearily. “You’ve worn me out today.”

“Good.”

She could hear his smile in his voice, and she laughed, tilting her head back and to the side against his forehead. “I love you,” she said softly.

“I love _you,_ ” he replied, the emphasis punctuated with a tightening of his hold on her.

She fell asleep easily for the first time since arriving in Heleus, her usual hours of anxious thought and cataloguing of fears filled instead with dreams of the sweet, cool breeze on Aya and the warm, comforting strength of Jaal’s arms around her. Home, as Sage Amurd had said, was often a person and not a place, and for the first time in her life, Neira Ryder felt at home.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr at avelakjar!


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